Favorite time of day

My favorite time of day is at night when I am cuddled up with Marni on the couch. It is when we are snuggled together under the covers just before we fall asleep. My favorite time of day is when I walk through the door after work and see Lilly’s pure excitement to have me home, and then see the same excitement on Marni’s face. My favorite time of day is after Lilly has gone to bed and she wakes up so I get to go hold her. When she lays her head on my chest and goes back to sleep. My favorite time of day is on the weekends when Lilly wakes both Marni and I up, but then we stay in bed and let her play and poke us. My favorite time of day is anytime I am with my girls.

To err is Human...right?

This has nothing to do with anything right now, but due to some somewhat recent things, particularly at work, I have been thinking about this lately.
The counselor at my High School had a quote on her desk. I don’t remember exactly what it said, but basically, “Your accomplishments will never be remembered, and your failures will never be forgotten”. I don’t think it was there to put you down, but rather motivate you to not mess up and have those things mark your legacy. Since then I have always remembered that, not as a “if I screw up” but “when I screw up” that is what I will be remembered for.
I don’t think it is quite that dramatic. I think many people are remember for their greatness, and there mistakes are overshadowed and forgotten. But I do think we tend to focus more on peoples mistakes, and not enough on the good things about them. I guess what I worry about is when it comes to advancing at work or in life, both in position and monetarily, my mistakes will hold me back rather than my accomplishments moving me forward. I just have to work hard to have my accomplishments be such that they overshadow the mistakes enough that they are not noticed.

PS. Just in case you are wondering, I don’t feel that I often mess up, nor is it bad when I do, but I do think I make my fair share of mistakes, as everyone does. I just hope they are looked at individually, not all compiled, or else that could be a little overwhelming.

I'm a Slacker

I am suppose to be doing my homework right now, but I am a slacker and am not. Actually I was doing it until the program froze up, so I figured now is a good time for a break.
I am a little bit of a slacker though. I always put off doing my homework for some reason. Lately I think it is more the stress of work, and getting the Franklin house ready to move into. I just didn't want to add more stress. Of course I did just that, because as the end of the semester nears, and there is still homework to be done, I start to stress about it. The 16th will be a good day. That is the day we have to be out of are apartment and in the Franklin House. It also marks the first day of Christmas break from school. And hopefully work stress will be under control. That will be nice. I know it is not the new year yet, but I want to resolve right now to get things done early rather than later, especially with regards to school. I can start that in January with the beginning of the new semester. I also want to go have a nice detailed meeting with my advisor and set some organized planned out goals for getting done with school and the stress of it. Speaking of which, I better get back to my homework.

Thankful

I am thankful for an extremely Beautiful wife who still loves me even though I am me. She loves me despite the stupid things I do and midnight runs to Franklin. Even though she is mad at me she waits up for me and still cuddles with me in bed. I am thankful for a wife who can look me in the eye and say "I love you" and mean it more now then the day we got married.
I am also thankful for our beautiful daughter who looks just like her beautiful mom.
I am thankful for our health, happiness, wealth, religious knowledge and all the other many blessings we have been blessed with.
I am thankful for these things everyday, not just today. I guess sometimes we just need a special day to remind us to express that thanks. Happy Thanksgiving or Feliz Dia das Gracas!

Quotes

I think if asked everyone can think of at least one famous quote, probably more. They probably also know who said it. Sometimes I think about quotes and wonder how the person who said it came up with it. Was it intelligents, inspiration, luck, or it was just something they said that became famous and well known because of the circumstances surrounding the time and place in which it was spoken.
I also wonder if I have ever said anything like that, or if I will that will be known and remember, that will comfort and inspire people. Now we get to the part where people will probably just think I am weird. I do not just sit around trying to come up with good quotes, but sometimes I think of things, that at least in my mind seem good. I have written some of them down, so here they are. Try not to think I am too weird.
“Distance takes the fun out of running”
“Poetry like art is a poor mans life, and a dead mans legacy”
“The world is a giant chess board and I am but a pawn in someone else’s game”
That last one for personal application I would substitute “Work” for “the World”
Pretty much that is it.

She doesn't Agree!

I don’t think Lilly shares mine and Marni’s excitement for her teeth. She has always woken up 2 or more times throughout the night, but she would usually just make a little noise to let us know she was awake, and would only get loud if we didn’t get her soon. But now when she wakes up she almost instantly screams, and is harder to comfort. I obviously don’t know for sure, but I think it is because her teeth are hurting so much. I figure between the one that has broke through, and the others that are trying, her mouth is probably hurting quite a bit. About the only thing that comforts her now is eating. I don’t think she is hungry, I think it is just comforting to snuggle up to her mom and eat. I feel sorry for both of them. Lilly for the teething, and Marni for constantly having to wake up and feed her. I wish I could help.

Teeth!

Lilly officially has teeth! Well tooth. The bottom right front tooth to be exact. She has been teething for a while, so we have been checking to see when the teeth break through. That day finally happened on Saturday Nov. 11th, 2006. Marni felt it first, and told me to feel. We both got really excited. I think Lilly thought we were crazy because she didn’t know what the big deal was. We are excited though. Our little girl is growing up so fast!

Wimp?

I think I am a little bit of a wuse (I don’t know if that is spelled right). I am one of those guys that cries during the sappy movies, some songs, and even tv shows. I get choked up when I here a sad story, or even think sad thoughts. I even have a hard time killing bugs and stuff. Whenever there is a spider Marni always wants me to squish it. I have always said I didn’t do it because I didn’t like the crunching sound it makes. I think I even believed that myself. But after thinking about it, I have found that is a load of crap. I don’t do it because I feel bad for killing them. Instead I just flush them down the toilet, and only watch long enough to make sure it doesn’t climb out. Then I walk out of the bathroom feeling slightly bad for killing it.
Not don’t mistake wuse for Wimp. That is something I am not! Especially if someone messes with my family. If they mess with my girls they can count on me kicking there a%# so hard they will be crapping through their nose, and I will never feel bad about that.

Something funny!

Something funny just happened. We are getting ready to move to a house in Franklin. My mom has been saying for a while that she plans to move to Logan. In fact she has said that she really likes our apartment and would like to live there. So she said when we move out, she could move up here and move in. Well the last couple times I have talked to her about it, she still says that she plans to move, but won’t give me a time frame, not even a month or time of year. She just says she can’t afford to move right now, and tries to get me to put off moving so she won’t lose the apartment. I think she doesn’t want to move. I think she would rather stay in Texas to be around her redneck hick white trash friends, than move to Utah and be closer to her Family. Don’t mistake this as bitterness, I would say it is more frustration. True it does bother me that she would rather live there than here, that her friends are more important to her than her family. But it bothers me more that she won’t just be honest about it. That she says she plans to move but won’t do anything to make it happen.
Anyway, we have decided that we would like to be moved by about the first to middle of December. That means that we need to give our landlord our 30 day notice soon. So for the last 2 ½ weeks I have been trying to get a hold of my mom by phone with no luck. I have left messages with my little brother, and on her answering machine. Nothing. So this morning I sent her an e-mail. I was not nice. I don’t think I was mean, but I definitely was not nice. I basically said I figure she must be avoiding me because despite constant effort and many messages, I can still not get a hold of her and she doesn’t return my calls. Then I just told her we need to figure out when she is moving so we know what to do with the apartment. The funny thing that happened is, about 10 or 15 minutes after I sent the e-mail I got a call from my mom. I was not able to take it as I am at work. She left a message which I have not listened to yet. I love my mom, and don’t want to offend her. But if that is what it takes to get her to talk to me…I just wish she would be honest about things, and not just avoid the issue.

Mothers!

I have a sister-in-law that writes a blog. I like to read her blog as it makes for interesting reading sometimes. She does not know that I read her blog, or that Marni does. We like it like that. She may not like the fact that we secretly read it, and it may change what or how she writes if she new. So it is better this way.
Today she wrote a blog that bothered me. Perhaps I have written blogs that have bothered the readers. If so they are free to comment on them and let me know.
She has a little boy who is almost 2 who is very smart and very cute. She wrote about how bored she gets as a stay at home mom. That did not bother me, I can see how you could get bored sometimes. She then went on to say she would like to find her purpose in life. She also talks about how she wonders how many women would have or could have changed the world if they were not “oppressed” as mothers and were able to get out in the world. She then wrote “What am I supposed to be doing that I am not. What is my big idea that could change not only my life, but those around me. I want to be more than I am.”That makes me sad. I feel sorry for her. She does not realize that as a good mother she can change more lives and improve the world so much more than doing anything else. She does not realize that if she is a good mother to her son, which will surely change her life, and those around her, in such a good way. It makes me sad that the big idea she is looking for, her purpose in life is playing blocks on the living room floor and she doesn’t even realize it. The greatest gift and purpose in her life sleeps in the room right down the hall and she has no idea. I am jealous of mothers. The roll they play, the influence they have on their children, and the time they get to spend with them. It makes me sad to see mothers who have that, and act like they don’t care, or don’t want it

What a Blessing!

We figured out that the reason Lilly was having trouble sleeping is that she was sick. When I was walking back and forth with her in her room, she seemed like she was getting tired. She was turned facing me, with her head on my shoulder a little bit. So I thought she would fall asleep soon. Then she jerked up, and wanted to turn around. So I turned her around and let her sit on my arm like a chair, and lean against my chest. Then she started burping, so I thought. She was throwing up. She threw up a few times, the last time being in the bathroom sink. It even came out her nose, the poor little girl. So while Marni cleaned up the floor, I got her pj’s off and in the wash. We got her cleaned up and in some new jammers. We are not sure what made her sick, since she seems fine today, but we wonder if maybe she is allergic to the Sweet Potatos we fed her earlier in the day, since that is some of what she threw up. We don’t know for sure though.
Marni fed her again, and tried to get her to sleep, but she still was having trouble sleeping. I feel bad because I didn’t think of it, but I feel blessed because I have a wonderful wife, who is also a wonderful mother, who is also in tune with the spirit, and she asked if I would give Lilly a blessing. Of course I instantly gave myself a quick interview to make sure I was worthy. Of course I am not perfect, but I always do a self evaluation when asked to exercise the Priesthood, just to make sure all is good. I also feel very blessed that I have the Priesthood and am able to use it to bless the lives of my family, and others who may need it.
As soon as I started to give her the blessing, she relaxed and fell right to sleep. I know that Heavenly Father blessed her right away because of the faith of my beautiful wife. That is a great blessing to us!

Nap?

Yesterday Lilly didn’t want to take a nap. You could tell she was really tired, but she was fighting it and refused to go to sleep. We went to Marni’s parents ward because her little sister Katie was playing the violin in Sacrament meeting. So she should have been taking a nap about the time sacrament meeting ended. She didn’t want to though. So we thought maybe she would sleep better if we went to Marni’s Parents house. We went there and tried to get her to sleep for a while, but not luck. So we went back to church. Normally at church if I just walk around the halls, I can get her to sleep pretty easily. So Marni went to Relief Society, while I walked around with her. She finally fell asleep about a half hour before church ended. So of course a half hour later when everyone started getting out of class, she woke up again. We went home and fed her (Marni fed her) and got her to go back to sleep, and she actually slept for about and hour and a half, maybe a little longer. Of course she was sleeping on our bed next to her mom, and she always sleeps better there.
We then went up to Marni’s parents house for dinner. As it got later it was time for Lilly to take another nap, which she did for about 30 min. She usually goes to bed around 8:30 to 9:00, so we put her jammas on, and Marni got her to sleep about 8:30, then we sat and talked for a little while. Probably a little after 9 she woke up as we were getting ready to leave. We figured she would fall a sleep on the way home or soon after getting home. She didn’t. She was way tired but refused to sleep. Marni fed her and tried to get her to sleep a couple of times. Nothing. So then I tried for probably about a half hour walking back and forth in her dark bedroom. She did not want to sleep.
It is times like these that I really want to either work from home, own a business, or be independently wealthy some how so I can be there all the time. I am sure when she gets like that Marni gets frustrated. I probably wouldn’t be able to get her to sleep any easier, just like last night, but at least I would be there to help, to give Marni a break. But for now, I work all day. Dang it!

Garlic Noodle Lasagna

My wife thinks she is not a good cook. She is wrong in this. A while back she was making some dinner and did this garlic pasta stuff. We call it garlic noodles, because it is noodles with garlic. I know it has other thinks in it, but I honestly do not know what. All I know is it is really good, and one of my favorite meals. We usually have it with some kind of meat, generally pork chops. That is what we had last night. If we had it again tonight I would not object, it is so good! I love the way she seasons the meat as well. Yum! Another thing that she makes that I love and could eat anytime is her lasagna. It is not a traditional lasagna, it is usually made with smaller pasta, but it is so good. Luckily when she makes it there is enough left over for lunch the next day.
I love everything she makes, but those are two of my favorites.

Thou shalt not Murmur

Yesterday my wife and I took our daughter Lilly in for her 6 month check up. I was just a normal check up, and she had to get more shots. She was fine until the nurse came in the room. Then she got upset. I think she remembered getting the shots when she was 4 months old, and did not like it, or the nurse that gave them to her. The first time the nurse came in it was just to get her weight and measurements. But Lilly did not like her being in there or touching her. She weighed 17 lbs 6 oz, which puts her in about the 55th percentile for her weight for 6 months old. But she is only in the 27th percentile for her height, which is why she is so chubby. J I am happy about that, because it looks like she will take after her mom. I love Marni’s height! I think it is the perfect height for a woman. Not that there is anything wrong with tall woman. I just think short woman are better. So it makes me happy to know that my daughter will be cool like her mom. Any way then the doctor came in, Lilly seemed a little nervous at first, but when she realized she was not the nurse, she was fine, she even seemed to like the doctor, and tried to play with her stethoscope. Then the nurse came back to give her the shots. As soon as she walked in she got upset, but especially when we put her on the table. She screamed. As soon as she was done, I picked her up and she was a little better. Then I gave her to her mom, and she was fine. She loves her Mommy! One thing though when the doctor was in, she was doing the check up, and seemed to take a long time listening to her heart. She said that Lilly has a small heart murmur. She said that it is actually common in babies her age and that she is not worried about it, so we shouldn’t either. So hopefully it will all be fine. But I still worry.

Poet?

I use to be a poet, and I didn’t even know it.
Then I found out, now I am in a poetry drought.

I love to write poems for my wife, She is the most important person in my life.
But lately the ideas do not come, I get stumped, sitting on my bum.

So I decided to try again. Maybe this time I can win.
If not now I don’t know when, maybe at home sitting in the den.

I use to write my wife poetry all the time, But lately I just can’t rhyme.
I need more words of love, maybe inspiration from above.

Words to tell her how I feel, to express the thoughts of my heart if you will.
Cause I love her more now than ever before. To bad you can buy words to say that in a store.

Is that bad?

Okay, I have a feeling this post is going to be a little long, so I will try to keep it as short as possible.
When I was a kid my dad had a 38 pistol. One day he told me why he bought it. He worked for an oil company in Duchesne, Utah. At the time there was an ex-con also working there. He had been convicted of Attempted Murder. I guess he had gotten mad at someone, and came up behind them and hit him over the head with a brick.
Well apparently this guy did not like my Dad, and let him know it. One day he told him that he better watch his back, because one day was going to hit him over the head. My dad believe him because he had done it before, and looked very serious when he said it. So after work that day my dad went out and bought a the 38 revolver. Then next day with the pistol strapped to his belt he walked up to the man and told him that if he hits him with a brick, he better make sure he is dead, because if he wasn’t he would come after him.
I think we let too many violent criminals get away with too many things. They get off because of the way evidence was collected, even thought the evidence clearly proves their guilt, or they get sent to jail for too short of a time compared to their crimes, then they get out on parole after serving only half their time. I think people can change, and sometimes they do. But the majority of these people know they are doing wrong when they are doing it, and most of them don’t care. Because of that I think most of them will do it again.
Take all the recent school shootings for example. Instead of surrounding the school and negotiating with them, just take the guy out. If he dies, at least hit was him not some kid. If someone rapes someone, cut is penis off, and I guarantee he will never do it again. If someone breaks into your house, don’t wait around to see if he is their just to steel you DVD player, or if he is there to harm your family. Assume there is a threat to your family and protect them.
I think if there were less tolerance for these kinds of crimes there would be a lot less of them. If they new that if they break into someone’s house they may not walk out again, if they take hostages the only negotiating will be between the two snipers about which one has the best shot, and if they have to sexually assult someone to feel like a man, everything man about them will be taken away, maybe they would reconsider their stupid ideas.
I hope this does not sound too harsh, maybe to some extent it is, but what I am trying to say is that we need to defend the victoms not the criminals, we need to protect our rights to live, and those of our families, we need to stop letting people get away with their crimes. We need to let them know we are not afraid to defend ourselves, that even though maybe not literally, we have our guns strapped to out belts and will use them to protect ourselves if we need to.

To Breathe

I think I figured out why some people have a blog. It gives them a chance to breathe. The only reason I am writing this right now is because I am sitting here at work, and I am a little stressed. I just need a break, a chance to breathe. I guess it gives a new meaning to venting. Other than that I think some of the things that I have written are just Ideas that are bouncing around in my head. Maybe if I write them down, they won't bounce around so much. Maybe they will, I don't know. Well I have to pee now.

Entrepreneur

For some reason ever since I was a little kid I have wanted to be an Entrepreneur. Well I guess I didn't really know that. I just knew that one day I wanted to own my own business. I think one reason for that is because I have always considered people who own their own buisinesses to be successful, and rich. I know that is noot the case with everyone, especially the rich part. I know a few buisness owners who just get by every month like the rest of us. But for the most part people who work for themselves instead of other people, tend to be more successful, and have more money. I wonder if the more money part comes in, because in order to make a business work they have to be good at managing money, and they just apply that in their personal lives as well.
Anyway, I think another reason owning a business has always apealed to me is that as I mentioned, you work for yourself. That means you never have to wory about getting fired, because you're the boss, you don't have to worry about breaking the rules because you make the rules, and you are almost always garanteed to get the time off you request. I know as far as rules go, you need them, and you need to set an example for your employees, but at least you don't have to worry about not agreeing with the rules. And unless you hire someone to run the place for you, you do have to work sometimes.
I am not a little kid anymore but I would still like to be a business owner instead of working for someone else.
There is pretty much only one job I wouldn't mind doing for someone else, and that is Flying Airplanes. Since that is what I am going to school to do, that is probably what I will end up doing.
However, I wouldn't mind owning a few airplanes and a small charter company, and working for myself.
I have a couple other business Ideas that I wouldn't mind doing, but this blog is gettting long, so maybe I will right about those another time.

Beauty Gene

Have you ever wondered what would happen if an average, maybe slightly funny looking guy got lucky enough to marry the most beautiful woman in the world? Well wonder no more. Here is your answer! I am the average, maybe slightly funny looking guy, and for some reason I got lucky enough to marry the most beautiful woman in the world. No kidding, there is no other woman more beautiful than my wife, I looked.
As far as what happens, you get the most beautiful babies in the world. Luckely the beauty gene is the dominate gene, as evidenced by my daughter who looks just like her mom.

She makes some of the cutest faces. This is her newest and her favorite right now. She is so funny and cute!

Here she is with a witch wig. She liked it. I think she likes haveing hair. :)

Hypocritical Blogger

I guess you can call me a hypocritical blogger. I say this because I am the guy who never understood blogs. I am the guy who made fun of people who put there journal on the internet for the whole world to read, and I could never understand why. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying I have fully converted to bloggerism. I still don’t understand why some people put some of the information in blogs that they do. Some of my inner most thoughts and deepest secrets will never be put into words, not in a blog or a journal. And some things I write may end up in my hand written journal, but not in my blog. But I can understand blogs to give people a chance to write about things they do want people to read, or just as an outlet for their thoughts. A place to write the Ideas, and dreams, or just try to express themselves in ways they can’t vocally. As for me, I don’t know why I am writing a blog. Maybe it is a way to help me get my total words spoken from 20,000 down closer to 7,000 where it should be for a guy. Maybe it will help me to not talk peoples ears off, but if they choose to read it they can. I think I am also okay with it, because nobody really knows I have a blog, and the chances of someone randomly stumbling across it is very low, and they chance they would want to read it if they did is even lower. But just in case, I am conscious of what I write, and will try to limit it to stuff I don’t mind people reading about.

To be Rich

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be rich? I have. I'm sure like everyone I think what it would be like to by a new car, a house, for me..An Airplane. You think about how nice it would be not to worry about living from pay check to pay check, and what it would be like to go shopping without having to keep a running total of what is in your cart to make sure you don't go over you budget. I think about all those things, and about the people I could help and the good things I could do. But mostly I think about time.
I think of all the things that i could better use my time for rather than sitting at work for 8 hours a day. Mostly spending time with my wife and daughter. I have heard about people that win the lottery and say they still plan on working at the job they have been working at. I wouldn't do that. I am not saying I would sit around the house and be a bum, because I wouldn't want to do that either. I would problably still work, just for myself. I have a few buisness Ideas I could invest some $ in, and spend about 3 0r 4 hours a day on that stuff, and hire other people to do the rest. Then the rest of my day I could spend quality time with my family. Right now between work, and school, and wanting to fly more, I feel like I have very little time with them. I don't like that. I want to be able to do school and flying and still have plenty of time with them, but work gets in the way. Being rich would solve that problem.

Talk a lot, talk a little.

We were watching 20/20 or somthing the other day and they said on average Women use 20,000 words a day, and men use 7,000 words per day.
I am deffinatly a man, but if you ask my wife Marni, I'm sure she will tell you I out talk any woman!
I use to be shy and rarely talked. But then I went on a mission and it pulled me out of my shell. Since then it has been the opposite. I still tend to be quiet when I am around someone that I don't know that well, but put me around someone I know really well like my wife, and it is all you can do to shut me up sometimes.
Once in a while I will be in the middle of saying something and I will look over and she will be laughing to herself. I realize then that I am not saying something funny, but I am still talking. I usually over explain things, obvious things that need not explanation. This usually happens if I am excited, surprised by something, or if I find something unbeleiveable.
Unfortunatly it also happens while watching tv or a movie. I say unfortunatly because it makes it hard for Marni to pay attention to what is happening in the show.
I think sometimes when she tells me I am talking to much again, or rambling, or repeating myself I let it bother me. But really That is one thing I love about Marni. I love that she is not afraid to laugh at the stupid things I do. I love that even though I do those stupid things, she still loves me.

This is it.

You know I may never use this. I just thought it would be good to have just in case i ever do want to sit down and write. So if someone is reading this, there is a chance I have written more since. If not too dang bad!